grooms of the Manchu Dynasty are said to have sipped the ceremonial wine on the occasion of their nuptials.
This
cup, with much else of inestimable value, was carried off in i860 by
the looters of the Imperial Summer Palace near Peking, which brings
home to us the futility of a silent protest unbacked by preventive
force against even a single act of vandalism.
On
the great ceremonial occasions when the Emperors of China were wont to
function in person, two out of the three altars were fashioned from
Jade. The altar of the Moon was of white Jade, that of the Earth of
yellow Jade, and only that of the Sun was of red coral. This mention of
white and yellow Jade leads me to mention the colour classification for
Jade laid down by the ancient Jade experts of China.
According
to these authorities, there were nine colours of this gem material
which determined its value. These colours included white, grey, brown,
black, pink, red, light green, dark green and blue. The last-named was
a kingfisher blue so rare in its occurrence that now it can only be met
with in museum collections, and is therefore out of practical politics.
In
the days when the mandarin class were the leaders of fashion and the
patrons of the arts and crafts, a thousand ounces of silver were not
considered an exorbitant price for a pair of emerald-green Jade
bracelets, and two thousand ounces of silver were looked upon as a fair
equivalent for a couple of gold-mounted Jade chopsticks.
A former Chinese Ambassador to the United States of America, Wu Ting Fang (as fine a gentleman as it has
